Directional control device for endless circulation system



Nov. 15, 1966 [SAO INUZUKA ETAL 3,285,436

DIRECTIONAL CONTROL DEVICE FOR ENDLESS CIRCULATION SYSTEM Filed March31, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Hg/ age In UEYTFORS Esao nuau KaeKeo yum'lnaHaBy (Pa-.9-

ATTORNEY Nov. 15, 1966 o [NUZUKA ETAL 3,285,436

DIRECTIONAL CONTROL DEVICE FOR ENDLESS CIRCULATION SYSTEM Filed March31, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 bi i\ i -gj Il -g m G InuEhTORS I5 InuauHa,KG) YumnaKa ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofiice 3,285,436 Patented Nov.15, 1966 3,285,436 DIRECTIONAL CONTROL DEVICE FOR ENDLESS CIRCULATIONSYSTEM Isao Inuzuka and Takeo Yuminaka, Katsuta-shi, Japan, assignors toHitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Mar. 31, 1964,Ser. No. 356,284 Claims priority, application Japan, Apr. 2, 1963,

3S/16,273 4 Claims. (Cl. 21416.1)

The present invention relates to a parking building in which parkinglots are disposed in vertically spaced apart relation for endlesscirculation therein, that is, a parking building of so-calledmerry-go-round type, and more particularly to a control device adaptedfor an efficient and economical operation of the parking building of thetype.

In a parking building of the type, a plurality of parking cages arelinked together by means of an endless chain and are driven by a maindrive gear connected to a main electric motor by way of a suitablydesigned reduction gearing. A problem which arises in connection withthe operation of such parking system is which direction, either leftwardor rightward rotation, must be selected in order to bring an automotivevehicle in a specific parking cage in a shortest possible path to avehicle entrance and exit which is situated at the lowermost or anyother position in the parking building. To this end, various directionselecting devices have been devised heretofore, but all of these havebeen found defective in their complicated structure.

Therefore, the primary object of the invention is to provide a parkingbuilding with parking lots arranged for endless circulation which isprovided with an improved and simplified direction selecting devicewhich is adapted to automatically select the direction of movement ofthe train of parking cages in order to bring a specific parking cage toa desired position in a shortest possible path.

According to the invention, there is provided a parking building havingparking lots arranged for endless circulation comprising an outerstructure, a plurality of parking cages arranged in vertically spacedapart relation in said outer structure, an endless chain for connectingsaid parking cages in endless linkage so as to support said parkingcages depending therefrom, drive means for rotating said endless chainin either direction, calling means for bringing any specific parkingcage among said parking cages to a predetermined position, directionselecting means operative in response to a signal from said callingmeans for determining the direction of rotation of said drive means, andstopping means operative in response to a signal from said calling meansfor stopping said specific parking cage at the predetermined position.

There are other objects and particularities of the invention which willbecome obvious from the following description with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevational view of .a park ing building towhich the invention is applied;

FIG. 2 is a schematic front elevational view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view showing the structure of one form of a directionselecting device which forms the principal feature of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing another form of the directionselecting device; and

FIGS. 5-7 show a preferred form of a control circuit arrangementaccording to the invention.

At first, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown an outer structurell of the parking building in which an endless chain 3 is verticallymovably disposed. The endless chain 3 is driven by a main drive gear 2and -ing cages.

supported at opposite ends by follower sprocket wheels 4 and 4.According to the invention, there are provided sixteen parking cages C Cwhich are connected in equally spaced apart relation by the endlesschain 3 to form an endless linkage, but it may be understood that thenumber of the parking cages is in no way limited to sixteen and agreater or a smaller number of cages may be provided as desired. InFIGS. 1 and 2, only four cages out of sixteen are shown, in which theparking cages C and C are full and C and C are empty as shown.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of a direction selecting device of theinvention, which includes a generally cylindrical bracket B, along theinner periphery of which relaying elements, or switches S 5 according tothe embodiment shown, of the same number with the parking cages, orsixteen in this description, are fitted to cooperate with the respectiveparking cages. It is so arranged that a pitch between any two adjacentswitches is proportional to a pitch between the corresponding park-Generally, the parking cages are equally spaced from each other so thatthey have a substantially equal pitch therebetween.

Levers L L are made to protrude from the respective switches S S towardthe center 0 of the bracket B, and carry rollers R R at the top thereof.The switches 8 -8 are so designed that they are actuated when therespective rollers R R are urged in the radially outward direction ortowards the switches. A cam means K of semicircular shape is rotatablydisposed about the center 0 of the bracket B in a manner that thesemicircumference thereof abuts the half of the rollers R R so as tourge them radially outwardly to thereby actuate the corresponding halfof the switches 5 -8 However, it will be understood that the cam K maybe of any shape as long as it can sufiiciently actuate the half of therelaying elements of continuous disposition out of the plurality of therelaying elements. Further, it is so designed that the cam K rotates inproportion to the rotation of the endless chain 3, thus the cam K makesone complete turn when the train of the parking cages makes onecirculation. In the embodiment shown, the cam K rotates in a directionopposite to that of the endless chain 3. When the parking cages C -Ctake the positions as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the switches 8 -5 in thedirection selecting device are open (or closed) and the switches 5 -8are closed (or open).

The operation of the direction selecting device will now be explainedwith reference to control circuits shown in FIGS. 5-7. The circuit ofFIG. 5 includes a DC. source indicated at and Symbols P and P denotecontacts of a lock-out relay, which are arranged to operate in a mannerthat they are closed and opened under an operable condition in which theparking cages are ready for operation, and opened and closed as soon asthe cages start to move, respectively. In order to avoid any confusion,the operating winding of the relay is not illustrated therein. Theoperable condition referred to above includes stoppage of the parkingcages and complete closure of a door between the parking cage and :avehicle entrance and exit. Push button switches B -B and calling relaysA A associated with the respective parking cages C -C are connected tothe and terminals of the power source through the contact P Self-holdingcircuits of these calling relays A A are formed by their own auxiliarycontacts A -A and the lock-out relay contact P The calling relays A -Aare used to set a position of stopping the operation in response to acall and for other purposes including the control and indication of theoperation. Therefore, control circuits for such purpose-s must actuallyexist, but any illustration and explanation thereof will not be madeherein since they are not directly related with this invention. The pushbutton switches B -B connected to the (-1-) terminal of the power sourcethrough the contact P are in turn connected to transfer contacts S Sthrough diodes D D respectively. Normally open or make contacts (asshown at a) of the switches 8 -8 are connected to a rightward directionselecting relay R, while normally closed or break contacts thereof (asshown at b) are connected to a leftward direction selecting relay L.Actually, the contacts of the switches -8 shown in FIG. are utilized asthe transfer contacts 8 -5 In the circuit diagram of FIG. 6, there areshown contactors 11 and 12 for effecting normal and reverse rotation,respectively, of a main electric motor M. Energization circuits of therespective contactors 11 and 12 are formed by a contact L,,- of theleftward direction selecting relay L and a contact R of the right-warddirection selecting relay R, while they have their self-holding circuitsformed by their own auxiliary contacts and a stoppage ordering contactSD. These contactors 11 and 12 are interlocked with each other by theirauxiliary contacts 11 and 12 In the circuit diagram of FIG. 7, symbol Mdesignates the induction motor which is connected through normally opencontacts 11,, 11 12 and 12 of the contactors 11 and 12 to a three-phaseA.C. source indicated at U, V and W so that any two phases of the threephases can be switched over to rotate the motor in either direction.

When, with the parking cages in the operable condition as shown in FIGS.1 and 2, it is desired to bring the empty parking cage C down to thevehicle entrance and exit for parking an automotive vehicle therein, thepush button switch B may be depressed. Under this state, the switch S inFIG. 3 is inoperative and the transfer contact S in FIG. 5 is closed atits break contact side. Therefore, by depressing the push button switchB the calling relay A and the leftward direction selecting relay L areenergized by circuits of ).P,,B g 2S (break contact side)-L and thecontact L of the relay L is closed. Then, the normal rotation contactor11 is energized by a circuit of (+)12 11L in FIG. 6 and locks itselfthrough a circuit of (+)12 1111 SD-(). Therefore, the contacts 11,, and11,, in FIG. 7 are closed to rotate the induction motor M in the normaldirection and the train of the parking cages is made to rotate in theleftward direction as viewed in FIG. 2. When the cage C travels down tothe vehicle entrance and exit, the stoppage ordering contact SD is madeto open since the calling relay A is in its energized state, but anydetailed explanation of such operation will not be made herein. By theopening of the contact SD, the contactor 11 is released to open itscontacts 11,, and 11 and the induction motor M is thereby brought to ahalt. With the stoppage of the motor M, the train of the parking cagesceases to move, while at-the same time the contact P is closed and thecontact P is opened. Therefore, the calling relay A is deenergized andrestored to the normal inoperative state.

Explanation will next be made with regard to a case of bringing down theparking cage C (not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) to the vehicle entrance andexit when the direction selecting device is in the state as shown inFIG. 3. The switch S associated with the cage C is urged to itsoperative position by the cam K as shown in FIG. 3.

Therefore, it is closed at the make contact side and opened at the breakcontact side. When, under this state, the

p a push button switch B corresponding to the parking cage C isdepressed, the calling relay A is energized by a circuit of (+)P B A andthe rightward direction selecting relay R is also energized by a circuitof FIG. 5. Therefore, the train of the parking cages now is made torotate in the rightward direction and the parking cage C travels theshortest path to be brought to the vehicle entrance and exit.

It will be seen that the cam K in FIG. 3 rotates in either direction ininterlocked relation with the movement of the train of the parkingcages. Therefore, it is possible to detect the direction in which anyparking cage travels the shortest path to reach the vehicle entrance andexit. Suppose, for example, that the parking cage C has been moved bythe above operation from the position of FIG. 1 to be brought to a haltat the lowermost position or the vehicle entrance and exit. Since, inthis case, the cam K takes the position at which it urges the rollers R-R radially outwardly, it can readily be detected that the direction ofthe shortest path is rightward for the parking cages C -C and leftwardfor the parking cages C C16 and C1C6.

Although the description has been made with regard to the directionselecting device of FIG. 3, a similar effect can be attained by a deviceas shown in FIG. 4. According to the device of FIG. 4, cams K Kcorresponding to the respective parking cages (E -C are coaxiallymounted on a rotatable shaft and switches S -S such as on-oif switchesare disposed in parallelly aligned relation with the shaft. Therespective switches 8 -8 are arranged to be actuated through springs SP-SP on the ends of which cam engaging rollers R R are fitted.

From the foregoing description, it will be understood that the directionselecting device of extremely simple structure can effectively detectthe direction in which any specific parking cage at any position travelsthe shortest path to reach the vehicle entrance and exit, and thus theoperating efiiciency of the parking building of the type described canmarkedly be improved.

What is claimed is:

1. A parking building having parking cages arranged for endlesscirculation comprising an outer structure, a plurality of parking cagesarranged in vertically spaced apart relation in said outer structure, anendless chain for connecting said parking cages in endless linkage so asto support said parking cages depending therefrom, drive means forrotating said endless chain in either direction, calling means forbringing any specific parking cage among said parking cages to apredetermined position, direction selecting means operative in responseto a signal from said calling means for determining the direction ofrotation of said drive means, and stopping means operative in responseto a signal from said calling means for stopping said specific parkingcage at the predetermined position, said direction selecting meanscomprising a cylindrical bracket, a plurality of relaying elementscorresponding in number to said parking cages, said relaying elementsbeing disposed along the inner periphery of said cylindrical bracket atpitches proportional to those of said parking cages associatedtherewith, and earn means arranged to rotate about the central axis ofsaid cylindrical bracket at a reduced rate proportional to the rotationof said endless chain, said cam means being operative to actuate at anyone time only half of the continuously disposed relaying element wherebya selected cage can be brought to said predetermined position by theshortest route.

2. In a conveyor system, a plurality of load movers movable in anendless path successively past a station,

motive means for effecting movement of said load movers, calling meansfor energizing said motive means to cause a particular one of said loadmovers to be transferred to said station, and direction selecting meansresponsive to said calling means for determining the shortest route ofmovement of said one load mover to said station, said directionselecting means comprising a plurality of relaying elements eachcorresponding respectively to one of said load movers and being disposedin a circular configuration facing a central axis in the order ofposition of said load movers, a cam element arranged to rotate aboutsaid central axis at a reduced rate proportional to the movement of saidload movers, said cam element being operative to actuate at any one timeonly half of the circularly disposed relaying elements whereby aselected one of said load movers can be brought to said station by theshortest route.

3. In a conveyor system, a plurality of load movers movable in anendless path successively past a station, motive means for effectingmovement of said load movers, calling means for energizing said motivemeans to cause a particular one of said load movers to be transferred tosaid station, and direction selecting means responsive to said callingmeans for determining the shortest route of movement of said one loadmover to said station, said direction selecting means comprising aplurality of relaying elements each corresponding respectively to one ofsaid load movers and being disposed in a circular configuration facing acentral axis in the order of position of said load movers, a cam elementarranged to rotate about said central axis at a reduced rateproportional to the movement of said load movers, said cam element beingoperative to actuate at any one time only half of the circularlydisposed relaying elements whereby a selected one of said load moverscan be brought to said station by the shortest route, said cam elementbeing driven in synchronism With said load movers by said motive means.

4. In a conveyor system, a plurality of load movers movable in anendless path successively past a station, motive means for effectingmovement of said load movers,

calling means for energizing said motive means to cause a particular oneof said load movers to be transferred to said station, and directionselecting means responsive to said calling means for determining theshortest route of movement of said one load mover to said station, saiddirection selecting means comprising a plurality of relaying elementseach corresponding respectively to one of said load movers and beingdisposed in a circular configuration facing a central axis in the orderof position of said load movers, a cam element arranged to rotate aboutsaid central axis at a reduced rate proportional to the movement of saidload movers, said cam element being operative to actuate at any one timeonly half of the circularly disposed relaying elements whereby aselected one of said load movers can be brought to said station by theshortest route, said cam element being driven in synchronism with saidload movers by said motive means, said relaying elements being disposedalong the inner periphery of a cylindrical bracket with a spacingproportional to the spacing of said load movers.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,856,876 5/1932Lewis. 1,940,867 12/1933 James et a1. 1,972,258 9/ 1934 Boyle.

MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Examiner.

2. IN A CONVEYOR SYSTEM, A PLURALITY OF LOAD MOVERS MOVABLE IN ANENDLESS PATH SUCCESSIVELY PAST A STATION, MOTIVE MEANS FOR EFFECTINGMOVEMENT OF SAID LOAD MOVERS, CALLING MEANS FOR ENERGIZING SAID MOTIVEMEANS TO CAUSE A PARTICULAR ONE OF SAID LOAD MOVERS TO BE TRANSFERRED TOSAID STATION, AND DIRECTION SELECTING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID CALLINGMEANS FOR DETERMINING THE SHORTEST ROUTE OF MOVEMENT OF SAID ONE LOADMOVER TO SAID STATION, SAID DIRECTION SELECTING MEANS COMPRISING APLURALITY OF RELAYING ELEMENTS EACH CORRESPONDING RESPECTIVELY TO ONE OFSAID LOAD MOVERS AND BEING DISPOSED IN A CIRCULAR CONFIGURATION FACING ACENTRAL AXIS IN THE ORDER OF POSITION OF